


5 Missed Chances

by Palizinha



Category: Phineas and Ferb
Genre: 5+1 Things, F/M, slightly canon divergent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 09:35:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29311944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Palizinha/pseuds/Palizinha
Summary: ...and the one time they got there
Relationships: Phineas Flynn/Isabella Garcia-Shapiro
Comments: 5
Kudos: 32





	5 Missed Chances

1.

The first time Phineas almost told Isabella how he felt, they were in their freshman year of high school.

School had come back just a month beforehand, and it didn’t take long for Phineas to notice just how different their interactions - or lack thereof - became. It wasn’t quite on the day high school began, he didn’t think, but whether it had started before or after… he just knew things had changed.

Isabella had said no to going home with Ferb and him, because she was going to be trying out for soccer. And when Phineas offered to stay and watch, she immediately told him not to - that she'd be nervous with all their friends there. Isabella wasn’t one to get nervous.

So that was when Phineas knew. And as soon as realized that, he also realized how much Isabella’s place in his life was important to him. That wasn’t news, exactly, because they were best friends for pretty much as long as Phineas could remember, and he had always known how much he needed her.

But he did realize that there was something else there - the need to be around Isabella, because she was the love of his life. And Phineas had never quite understood romantic love, but it made sense that it would be Isabella. How could it have been anyone else?

And as soon as Phineas realized how he felt, he knew he needed to tell her. Isabella was his best friend, and he couldn’t keep something like that from her. Even if she didn’t feel the same way.

He had prepared everything - they’d go home together after school (the soccer team didn’t have training that day), Phineas would ask Ferb to leave them alone (and Ferb would do it, because he was a good brother like that), and then he’d buy them ice cream and talk.

Phineas’s plans almost always worked and he had a good feeling about this specific one. It wasn’t as grand as most of his plans, but he knew if he focused too much on an idea, he’d get distracted and not get to the point.

What Phineas didn’t plan for, was Isabella’s conversation with Ferb as they walked home.

“Adyson keeps talking about her boyfriend,” Isabella said. “I am starting to get tired of it.”

“You could always get a boyfriend and annoy her back,” Ferb said, and Phineas tried not to think about the look Ferb sent him. There was no way Ferb knew.

“I don’t really want that right now,” Isabella said. “I mean, I spent so long daydreaming about… well, what I mean is that it’s not the right time. Maybe soon.”

Ferb looked at Phineas again, and Phineas didn’t let himself react too visibly at that.

So, Isabella didn’t want any romance at the moment. And if he told her how he felt, maybe she would see it as him trying to force the issue. He didn’t want to keep something like that from Isabella, but it was better for her, wasn’t it?

He was willing to wait.

2.

The second time Phineas almost told Isabella how he felt, she had just led the soccer team to second place, and it felt like a good time.

It had been months since Isabella had said she wasn’t interested in romance yet, and she had said she could change her mind soon.

Keeping it a secret from Isabela had never been in his plans, after all.

So, Phineas came up with a plan. A good one this time.

They were having a “maybe next time!” celebration at his backyard later, with all of Isabella’s soccer friends, and while it wasn’t the first place Phineas had planned for, it was good enough.

They’d party, she would cheer up from the vital loss, everyone would eventually leave in good spirits, and Isabella would stick around for a bit longer. She always did that, after all, because she was closer to Phineas and Ferb, as well as the fact that she literally lived across the street.

After everyone else left, Phineas would (this time for real) ask Ferb for some time alone with Isabella, and then he’d unveil the slightly modified soccer ball he made specifically for her, telling her it was a gift from his heart. She’d be surprised, but willing to hear him out, and he’d either maintain his best friend while hopefully fixing the weird vibe they usually had these days, or leave the night with a new girlfriend.

The only issue ended up being, of course, that Isabella didn’t stay until afterwards.

She was very sorry about it, but the team was going to have a sleepover to extend the party and take away more from the last minute loss.

Phineas looked at the place he had hid the soccer ball, and smiled back at Isabella, telling her he completely understood.

Maybe it just wasn’t the right time yet.

3.

The third time Phineas almost told Isabella how he felt, it was the end of the summer before junior year.

Phineas had stayed silent about it so long, he wasn’t even sure what telling her would be like, and had long accepted that he’d probably never have the courage to.

Isabella never dated anyone, so Phineas didn’t know if she would even be interested in dating someone, but his silence wasn’t just that.

There were many reasons, but a big one after the past summer was that he had seen how awkward things could be when dating was put into the mix with friendship. Baljeet and Ginger had never even been the closest of friends, but now that they were together their relationship with everyone else had gotten weird.

It felt like there was an expectation that if you were dating someone, they were one step above all of your other friendships, and when two people in the same friend group got together, the entire group was affected.

And Phineas had been a bit scared of that, making things awkward with everyone else because of Isabella. Not that he’d put her over the others, of course, but he had never been in a relationship with anyone before, how would he know how he’d react in one?

What changed was talking to Isabella herself, in one of their now rare days where Isabella was the only one besides Phineas and Ferb at the backyard.

“I’m a bit scared,” Isabella admitted, and Phineas looked at her from the place where he was tinkering with some metal.

“Of what?” Phineas asked.

“This whole thing with Ginger and Baljeet this summer… it’s not quite like I didn’t see it coming, Ginger never made her feelings for him a secret, but it felt like our whole dynamic changed,” Isabella said.

“I noticed that too,” Phineas said. “But why does that scare you?”

“I guess I just don’t want to do something like that. When we were kids, you know what I was like,” Isabella said with a little eye roll. Phineas had the feeling he was missing something.

“You wouldn’t have to, even if you dated one of us,” Phineas said. “Baljeet… I’m sure things will change once their relationship grows.”

Isabella sent Phineas an amused look. “Right, you know romance.”

Phineas remembered them having an exchange about that as children, but he didn’t know why Isabella seemed to think that was funny. “I do know romance. After all, I…”

And that almost slipped out. Something he had kept secret for such a long time, he almost said it, during a conversation where Isabella seemed upset at the very idea of something like that happening.

“You?” Isabella asked.

“I… am not sure where I was going with this,” Phineas said. “I’m a teenage boy, we aren’t known for boundless romantic knowledge.”

“I think the issue is less teenage boys in general, and more that I’ve never seen you interested in anyone,” Isabella said.

Phineas wondered, he really did, what would happen if he told Isabella he had been interested in someone. One person. Her.

He didn’t think that was quite normal, only having feelings for one person your entire life, so he didn’t say anything.

But he wondered what would happen if he slipped out and couldn’t stop himself in time.

4.

The fourth time Phineas almost told Isabella how he felt, they had just begun their final year of high school.

There was just this feeling in the air - between the whole group - that that was it. In one year they would all be going in different directions. Even Phineas and Ferb, and Phineas wasn’t quite sure how that would even work. Ferb had plans to study abroad, and Phineas didn’t want to, so they would definitely be separated.

Phineas didn’t know how to say goodbye to his friends - they’d obviously keep in touch between video calls and teleportation devices, but things would most definitely change. The truth was that unless you kept living close to one another, childhood friendships didn’t last forever.

And Phineas was really, really scared of losing Isabella.

The space between them kept growing the longer high school lasted, and there wouldn’t be a way to reverse that after they left Danville.

It made Phineas feel like he wasted too long, and it made him want to change that.

“I don’t know where I want to study,” Phineas said. Everyone else seemed to have some idea, but he didn’t.

“Where are you planning to apply?” Isabella asked.

“Everywhere?” Phineas admitted with a wince. He knew that wasn’t exactly a great idea, but he wanted to do so many different things, how was he supposed to choose?

“You never change, do you?” Isabella asked, a fond look on her face that made Phineas blush. Isabella didn’t seem to notice, and Phineas didn’t want to look away from her eyes in order to question that.

“I’ve always tried to make the most of every day, and I’m not sure being stuck learning one thing is going to be for me,” Phineas said.

“You could always not go to college,” Isabella said. “It’s not like you’d have any trouble landing a good job fresh off high school, especially here in Danville where everyone knows what you and Ferb have done.”

“But it’s such a journey!” Phineas said. “If I want to do everything life has to offer, that’s part of it.”

Isabella looked at Phineas again, and Phineas thought that was the first time he had ever seen her look at him in a way that made him believe that maybe they really could be together. It made his heart race faster.

“You’re just…” Isabella trailed off, and Phineas wanted to know what she was about to say.

He wanted to be with her, and the longer he put off telling her, the more his chances would go down. They were in their last year of high school.

“You’re one of my favorite people, I don’t want us to just not see each other again after high school,” Phineas said. It was one of his deepest fears.

“You know how I feel about you,” Isabella told him with a weirdly sad smile and looked away. Phineas didn’t know what she meant, but he couldn’t quite voice that.

It felt like they were having a moment.

And Phineas let it pass, because he couldn’t quite say what he meant.

5.

So, maybe he had been a little oblivious.

It’s not like anyone had told him either, though. Baljeet knew. Buford knew. Ferb most definitely knew. And none of them had told him.

And sure, he got why. All of his friends were also Isabella’s friends, and none of them would have wanted to get in the way of their relationship like that if they thought they could figure it out on their own.

Phineas was deeply aware that if one of them had finally said something, it was because they also knew he was out of time.

Isabella had had a crush on him since they were kids.

That made a lot of their exchanges in their entire lives make sense, in a way that made Phineas want to sing (that happened a lot in Danville).

Phineas went after Isabella, trying to catch her before she left.

And he failed.

He was told she had already left, and there wasn’t anything he could do.

And that was when he did sing.

Phineas had missed his chance. He had had so many chances - he saw her every day! They lived across from each other! How was it that there wasn’t one moment, in his entire life, where he came up to her and told her how he felt, honestly?

Why did he let so many things affect that, including his own fear of making things change too much? Change was inevitable. You just needed to make the most of it.

And he hadn’t.

1.

One of the good things about living in a place as wild as Danville, was that the tri-state area was home to many people who changed the world. More than that, it was home to people who could teach others to change the world.

That was the main reason that, for Phineas, it made more sense to go to a college closer to his home. Other places had great departments, but did anything match having first-hand experience making aliens blow up?

And Tri-State State was the option he went with.

It wasn’t as close to his house as Danville University, which gave him a reason to actually live on campus. And wasn’t that a whole experience on its own?

The thought of being there alone was daunting, though. Phineas had never really done things without Ferb or at least one of his other friends around.

Tri-State State was a good option, and one week into classes, Phineas was glad he chose it.

But that didn’t make things less weird when…

“Phineas?”

Phineas turned around to see Isabella. He vaguely remembered Baljeet telling him Isabella had chosen Tri-State State, but there had been so much new information in that conversation it had slipped from his mind.

“Hey,” Phineas grinned at her, his heart beating probably faster than it should.

“I didn’t know you had chosen Tri-State State,” Isabella said.

“I hadn’t yet, when you left,” Phineas said. “I tried to talk to you when I heard you were leaving, but you had already left.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t say goodbye to you guys, I just…” Isabella trailed off.

Phineas had played out in his mind what he would have said to Isabella had he found her in time quite a bit. But none of it matched actually seeing her. And this time, he didn’t want to wait until he lost his chance.

“Baljeet said…'' Phineas started and then stopped. Was that the right thing to say? Was there a right thing to say?

But he had missed too many chances. He needed to do this.

“I sang about you the day you left,” Phineas said instead, and then wanted to kick himself for it. What kind of lead up to a confession was that?

Isabella seemed just as baffled about where he was going with this, but she nodded and then looked at him. “I sang about you too.”

That was… not quite a confirmation that her old crush on his was still there, but it was something. Singing specifically about him when leaving town, that was a lot, wasn’t it?

“You’re one of my favorite people,” Phineas said, echoing a conversation they had had, about a year ago now. “And I don’t want to lose you. Because… I may not know romance, but I do know how I feel about you.”

Isabella looked at Phineas, like she couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing.

“I’m sorry I made you wait this long,” Phineas said. Because from the way she was reacting… Phineas may be a bit oblivious, but he knew Isabella. If she didn’t still have feelings for him, she wouldn’t be silent. She would rush to tell him they’d be alright.

“No, it’s… it’s fine,” Isabella said. “I daydreamed a lot about you saying something like this, but I grew up. And this is actually happening.”

“It is,” Phineas nodded.

Phineas was willing to give Isabella how many moments she needed to come to terms with what he said.

“You did know how I felt,” Isabella said.

“Not really,” Phineas said, wincing a little. She thought he knew, didn’t she? She had alluded to that in the past. “Baljeet had to tell me, and even then I didn’t fully buy it.”

Isabella smiled a little at that.

“That does sound like you,” Isabella said.

Phineas grinned, moving forward to touch Isabella’s hand. “Are we alright?”

Isabella squeezed Phineas’s hand, closing her eyes. “We are.”

“Good,” Phineas said, trying not to overthink it when he closed the distance further and kissed her.

Phineas grinned into the kiss when Isabella kissed him back, because… they had gotten there, hadn’t they? And sure, maybe it had taken a bit longer than they would have liked but…

It was worth the wait.


End file.
